The Department of Telecom (DoT) and the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) differ over standards to be used for monitoring radiation levels emanated by mobile phone towers. DoT is in favour of continuing with the international standards formulated by International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), while MoEF wants to develop India-specific guidelines.
These views emerged at the recently held meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on electro-magnetic field (EMF) radiation. During the meeting the representative of MoEF said the standards developed by ICNIRP may not be in tandem with Indian conditions in terms of population density and socio-economic factors. MoEF’s views are being backed by the Ministry of Health whose representative in the meeting said that many countries have specified their own radiation levels keeping in view the environmental and physiological factors.
